Spending on wildlife recreation reaches $3B

Monday

Oct 1, 2012 at 12:01 AMOct 1, 2012 at 6:38 PM

Outdoors enthusiasts spent more than $3 billion to hunt, fish and observe wildlife in North Carolina last year, roughly 50 percent more than they shelled out five years ago, according to a recent report from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

KATE ELIZABETH QUERAM

Outdoors enthusiasts spent more than $3 billion to hunt, fish and observe wildlife in North Carolina last year, roughly 50 percent more than they shelled out five years ago, according to a recent report from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Per the 2011 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation, nature hobbyists in 2011 spent a total of $3.3 billion in the Tar Heel State, nearly all of it on trip-related costs such as gas, food and lodging. In 2006, state wildlife recreational spending totaled $2.2 billion, but less than half paid for travel expenses, with the rest going toward fishing, hunting and wildlife-watching equipment.

Most likely, that shift is at least partly due to rising gas prices, which may have encouraged North Carolinians to explore recreational activities within their home state in lieu of traveling elsewhere for vacations.

“That really leapt out at me, the increase in trip-related expenditures versus the change in equipment expenditures,” said Richard Aiken, lead economist with the federal Fish and Wildlife Service. “In 2011, people didn’t necessarily buy any new equipment, but they did buy gas and food to go on trips. That argues against the idea of going to other states.”

Within state lines, hunting and fishing have become significantly more popular. Last year, 335,000 people hunted in North Carolina, an 11.6 percent increase over the 2006 total of 300,000. Five years ago, 1.25 million people cast lines in Tar Heel State waters; in 2011, that number jumped to 1.53 million, a 22.4 percent increase, an uptick Aiken said could be at least partially driven by bargain-savvy consumers aiming to save money in a still-struggling economy.

“Fishing, in particular, can be a rather low-expenditure activity,” he said. “You can just grab gear you have around the house, go to a local place and fish.”

Along the southeastern coast of North Carolina, in-shore fishing has become most popular among residents and tourists. The increased interest is largely due to the relatively inexpensive cost of the local boat trips, said Dennis Barbour, owner of Island True Value Tackle and Hardware in Carolina Beach.

“The economy, with fuel prices running more than $4 a gallon, has really hurt the offshore fishing market. We don’t sell as much bait and tackle for that,” Barbour said. “But the in-shore has picked up for that same reason. People are looking for a more economical way to go, and you can spend $20 and $30 there and have a good day.”

Conversely, the number of people participating in wildlife-watching — including observing birds, sea life and mammals — fell to 2.4 million in 2011, an 8 percent decline from 2.6 million in 2006. But along the coast, where nature observers can watch feathered flyers in a variety of unique habitats, interest in bird-watching seems to be increasing, according to Walker Golder, deputy director of Audubon.

“We’re right on the border of northern and southern climates, so you get birds from the north and the south,” he said. “We have all these habitats — the ocean, the beach, the marsh, the rivers, the swamps, the pine forest — that makes it a hugely diverse area.”